


Biology Lesson- The Anatomy of a Frog

by Beth Harker (chiana606), chiana606, RewriteThisStory



Series: School 'Verse [2]
Category: Newsies (1992)
Genre: Canon Era, M/M, newsies antics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-18
Updated: 2015-01-18
Packaged: 2018-03-08 04:50:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3195911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chiana606/pseuds/Beth%20Harker, https://archiveofourown.org/users/chiana606/pseuds/chiana606, https://archiveofourown.org/users/RewriteThisStory/pseuds/RewriteThisStory
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This story takes place a week or two after Linguistics.  Mush finds a frog.  Shenanigans ensue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Biology Lesson- The Anatomy of a Frog

**Author's Note:**

> Series background: The summer is over, Mayer has healed and is back at work. David is made to go back to school. Change often begets change, but some things stay the same.
> 
> The stories in the series will follow David, Jack and at times, the rest of the newsies. They can be read in order or as stand-alone one-shots.
> 
> Stories in this series (listed in order): A Lesson in Linguistics, (two stories yet unpublished), Biology Lecture: The Anatomy of a Frog, Math Homework, (one story yet unpublished), Poetry Essay
> 
> Chiana606 and I like to RP to write stories. She usually takes David and I take Jack. Some of them never see the light of day. But this series stuck with us and we decided to translate most of it into a readable form.
> 
> The idea for this series (and most of the brilliant ideas) was Chiana606's- I'm just glad she keeps asking me to play in her sandbox.
> 
> Chiana606 wrote up "Linguistics" and I wrote up the other three stories in this series. Maybe one day one of us will write the missing ones we RPed and never wrote...
> 
> Originally posted to Tumblr: September 7, 2013

Mush couldn’t remember when he and Blink first decided to sell together- it just kind of happened one day. And since then, they always had. 

As a rule, they didn’t usually sell near Central Park, knowing how many other newsies tended to gravitate there, but for whatever reason, their travels took them there today. 

It had been a good day and despite it being early afternoon, they only had a few papers left between them. 

They were walking through the park when Mush suddenly dropped to the ground. Blink looked down at him in surprise, “Hey Mush, you alright?” 

Mush stretched out and put his hands behind his head. “Yeah, just wanted to lay in the grass. You should try it.” He opened an eye to see Blink’s reaction. He watched as Blink shook his head, but put his papers down and sat beside Mush. 

“You gonna be long? We still got papes to sell.” Blink had been distracted all day, thinking about the money he lost to Race the other night. He should have stopped two hands before he did. And now he owed Race money. He hated owing Race money. 

Mush rolled his eyes before closing them again, enjoying the breeze and the smell of the grass. It wasn’t a smell he was able to enjoy very often- there wasn’t much grass in New York City. He heard Blink shifting around beside him, sighing impatiently. 

Mush looked over at Blink again, “Would you just calm down, you’re ruining this for me. We got plenty of time.” 

Behind Blink Mush saw movement in the grass. “Hey, what was that?” 

Blink turned to look behind him. “I don’t see nothin’.” 

“There!” Mush sat up, pointing. Something was hopping in the grass.

“It’s probably just a frog.” Blink was unimpressed.

“Yeah, but you ever seen one up close?” Mush’s eyes were excited, following the small animal. “I’m gonna catch it.” He hopped quickly to his feet and gave chase.

He didn’t have long to catch it before it made it to the small pond nearby. But Mush was quick and after a moment, he dove into the grass and closed his hands around the small frog, whooping in triumph. He scooped it up gently and carried it back to where Blink sat pulling up blades of grass. 

“Look, Blink! Look at it.” Mush’s excitement was childlike and, as much as Blink hated to admit it, infectious. 

The frog was a dark green, almost brown. Blink could see the labor of its breath through its thin skin. It was making small hops, trying to escape the cage of Mush’s cupped hands. Mush closed his hands so it didn’t escape. 

“I’m gonna keep ‘em,” Mush declared. 

All interest in the frog evaporated in Blink. “Really. And what are you going to do with him, huh?” Blink picked up his papers and Mush’s. “How you gonna sell papes with no hands?” 

“That’s what I got you for.” Mush’s wide grin was hard to resist and Blink quickly gave in. He always did. Especially when Mush smiled like that.

“Fine. But what about when we get to the lodge? Where you gonna keep him? And you don’t know nothin’ about frogs- what’s he gonna eat?” Mush had to admit Blink had a point. He had no idea what frogs ate. 

But he knew someone who probably did. David. “I’ll ask Dave. He knows everything. He’ll know what frogs eat.” Mush was confident David could help him. “Come on, let’s go over to his school. Maybe we can ask him when he gets out.” 

Blink sighed, but followed behind Mush, watching as his friend gently cradled the small critter, being careful not to let him escape. 

On the way to the school, Blink managed to sell the rest of the papers, probably because everyone thought there was something wrong with his partner’s hands that forced them to stay like that. 

Mush walked up to the school gates and leaned his head on them, as if the extra four inches closer would help him see better. After a few minutes, boys flooded out of the doors. It didn't take long to pick out the familiar form of his pal. His head was down, so he couldn't see them at the gates.

"David! Hey Davey! Over here!" Mush had to stop himself from waving so he didn't drop the frog. Instead, Mush was doing this strange hop, holding both hands together in front of him.

"Hey Davey, over there!" One of the other kids mimicked with a shove. David stumbled, but if he noticed beyond that, he didn't give any indication.

He walked a little faster, trying to avoid the other kids as much as he could, making his way towards Blink and Mush. He didn't much care if the other kids _were_ saying stuff about him. He was happy that Blink and Mush were there. It'd been a while.

"Hey," he said. "Let's get going." He touched Mush's arm lightly, hoping that his friend wouldn't take his haste to mean he wasn’t glad to see him.

Mush smiled at David. "Sure. But I have some questions for ya. Look at this!" Mush stopped on the sidewalk and opened his hands just a sliver.

"What is it?" David asked. Whatever Mush was holding was shiny and moving.

The sound of his classmates shouting for "Davey," as if calling him that was an insult, made him remember where he was. He slung one arm each around Mush and Blink, hoping it was natural. "Come on, we can go somewhere else and talk about it, whatever it is."

Blink glanced over his shoulder, "Hey, do those guys want to talk to you?" He thought it was odd the way they were all yelling David's name, but didn't seem to make any move toward him. He noticed some of them were laughing and pointing. "Hey, are they laughin' at you?" He paused for a second, "Are they laughin' at US?" Blink's temper flared and he broke away from David's arm turning back quickly toward the gates.

"They're just laughing!" David said rapidly, doing what he could to keep hold of Blink, even though he knew it wouldn't be much if Blink got it into his head to run. "Because... they're happy! This is _school_ , Blink! Everybody is happy here, because they get to study things! It's the happiest place on Earth! So they’re laughing because it's fun to be here. Just... Just come on, alright?"

It wasn't a convincing lie, but David had some hope that his reputation for honesty would work in his favor here.

Something in David's voice made Mush look at him sadly. He couldn't say what exactly, but something David was saying sounded off. Mush stepped in front of Blink and said, "Hey, come on, let's go- I'm about tired of holding 'em. Need to find a box or something."

"It's alive?" David asked in surprise, forgetting for a split second that they needed to get away.

Mush was pressing his shoulder into Blink's chest, directing him away. "Well, yeah, didn't you see it? It's a frog! I caught 'em myself- in the Park," Mush said proudly. He kept walking but slowly, impeded by Blink. Blink continued to glower at the kids behind the fence, but allowed himself to be led backward by Mush's gentle urging.

"A frog! Great! I love frogs!" David said. This time it wasn't exactly a lie, and it wasn't exactly sarcastic, just nothing he'd ever expected to be saying. He was pretty sure loving frogs would be something he was capable of.

Some kids were making gestures at their eyes, covering them with their hands. It was all David could do to keep from sighing in exasperation. "Pink eye's been going around," he said, rubbing his right eye as if it itched. "Ow. Terrible. Anyway, don't touch my hands and wash yours a lot or you'll get infected too."

This lie came out even worse than the first. Jack had to be rubbing off on him, or else David wouldn't have even tried it. David had tried to learn Jack's creative truth telling but it always came out all wrong.

It didn’t matter anyway- Blink knew what they were really indicating, and lunged against Mush. Mush managed to stop him, but nearly dropped his frog in the process. "Hey, watch it Blink! Don't squish him! You’ll kill my frog!" 

Mush glanced back to see what the kids were doing. "Oh." He put more weight into his feet to keep Blink in place, hoping he didn't bolt around him. He nudged his cupped hands against Blink's chest. "Hey, ignore them. There's like forty of them.” He nudged his shoulder into Blink's again, “Come on, let's go." Blink allowed himself to be turned around, but not without another menacing look over his shoulder. Mush walked a pace behind Blink, urging him forward whenever he turned to look at the laughing mob behind them.

Once the school was out of sight, Blink relaxed some, but Mush knew he was still mad. Mush also knew to leave him be and let him sort it out. He'd be over it in a minute. Besides, Mush was excited, David loved frogs- he would be able to help him. "So, hey we needed your help, we don't know what they eat, or anything about them, really- and we were hoping you could tell us."

Blink looked over at Mush giving a huff at Mush's repeated use of 'we', wasn't like it was _his_ frog.

David also relaxed a little as they got away from the school. He had been as tense as Blink. The way that Mush looked at him as if he had complete faith in his abilities to take care of his frog eased some of the tension too. David had notice this talent in his friend before. Something about Mush seemed to make everyone relax. 

"Eat... well, they eat flies. They eat any insects really. Spiders too. We'd pretty much be overrun with insects if there were no frogs. They're important to the environment," David said a bit distractedly. He was still trying to gather up his thoughts, so the result was that they were coming out all at once.

"Neat!" Mush peeked at the creature in his hands, "You eat bugs little guy? Well, there are plenty of those!" Blink's anger was starting to fade. It was hard to stay mad with Mush around. He was always so happy and excited about stuff. "So you're really gonna catch bugs for this thing?" Blink could picture Mush hopping around the lodge house, trying to catch flies with his bare hands.

…And likely enlisting his help in doing so. Blink made a noise somewhere between a laugh and a sigh. 

Mush looked at Blink. "'Course. He's gotta eat. And hey- it's free. There's bugs everywhere." Mush looked around. "We need to find a box. My hands is gettin' tired."

Blink couldn’t help but think that it was too bad humans didn’t eat bugs. He could eat for free and he could pay Race back sooner. Race was like a dog with a bone when someone owed him money. And Blink would never hear the end of it until every cent was paid.

"You probably want to keep him in a bowl or a cup," David suggested. "Frogs are amphibians, so they live in and out of water. If he gets too dry, it won't be good for him." David stopped, dropping his school bag, and kneeling to pull stuff out of it.

He pulled out a small metal lunch box. There was an apple and most of a sandwich inside. He'd spent more of lunch dodging people than eating it. "You can put him in here for now. But I'll need it back eventually. Are you guys hungry at all?" 

After David removed his lunch, Mush carefully placed the frog inside. He put the lid on it tightly and grinned at David, "Thanks, Davey! That's great!" He looked around. "Where can we get some water? You said he needed water right?"

"Yeah," David held onto his sandwich awkwardly, since neither of the other boys had taken it, and he didn't know where to put it now. "Could go back to the lodge, or to Tibby's. They both have water. We don't need a lot, just enough to keep him moist."

Blink looked over at Mush, "You think he can breathe in that thing?" He looked back at David for confirmation, "Frogs gotta breathe right?" Blink had been distracted watching Mush with his frog and just noticed the sandwich in David's hand. "Hey, you gonna eat that?"

David turned to Mush, answering Blink’s first question. "It wouldn't make a good permanent home. But it should be fine until we find something else.”

He carefully worked off a tiny bit of bread closest to where he'd bitten into it, and since he couldn't imagine wasting even that small amount of food when Blink and Mush were watching, he pocketed it. "Here," David said, handing over both the sandwich and the apple. 

Blink looked at David strangely, "You want more of it than that? It's your sandwich." Blink held the sandwich out to David again. He hoped David said no though. If he didn't have to buy dinner tonight he could pay more to Race and get him off his back sooner.

"It's fine. You eat it. Want the apple too?" David asked.

Blink wondered why, if David didn't want the sandwich, he'd put part of it in his pocket, but he wasn't going to question someone who gave him most of a whole sandwich- with meat and cheese and everything. And now he was offering an apple too. Blink took it, but turned to Mush, "Wanna split it?" It seemed greedy to eat everything himself.

Mush shrugged, which Blink took as a yes. He pulled out a rusted old pocket knife he'd found about year ago and cut the apple in half. "You want a piece?" he asked David before handing half to Mush.

David shook his head, trying not to shudder at the condition of the knife. "That's okay. Better to save my appetite for dinner at home," David said, realizing a split second later how that must've sounded- probably like he was bragging about the sheer amount of food he had or something.

Blink shrugged. "Alright." More for him. He bit into the apple and chewed as they walked.

"Let's go back to the lodge," Mush piped up. "I can show the guys my frog!"

"Yeah, and we can probably find something to put him in. Kloppman might have an old cup or something," Blink said thoughtfully.

David thought the lodge sounded good. Maybe Jack or some of the others would be around- he hadn’t seen any of them in weeks. "Maybe you could find a rag and use that to cover it so the frog can’t jump out. Just poke some holes in it for air,” David added.

The boys soon arrived at the lodge and walked upstairs to the bunks. There were only a few boys inside- most were still out selling papers.

"Hey guys, look what I got!" Mush called as soon as they walked into the room. That brought Tumbler, Boots, and Snipeshooter over in an instant. Skittery, who was sitting on the floor leaning against his bunk, sort of looked up, but seemed to have already made up his mind that whatever it was wasn't interesting.

David had always been in the habit of sitting on Jack's bed when he went to the lodge. He was tempted to do that now, but Jack wasn't there. He ended up leaning against the ladder to Jack's bunk instead.

Mush found himself surrounded by the younger ones, clamoring to see what was in the container. Mush obliged and took the top off the lunch box.

The frog, sensing fresh air and freedom leapt out and hopped around the room. Boots shrieked in surprise and Tumbler watched in fascination as the frog jumped across the floor and bunks. Mush took off, chasing his new pet.

The frog hopped across the bed Skittery was leaning on and landed on the bunk beside him. He yelled as Mush launched himself at the frog, nearly kicking Skittery in the head in the process. 

Mush held up his hands, frog captured inside, triumphant.

David barked out a laugh- the first time he'd done that in a while.

"What the hell _was_ that?" Skittery demanded. He was paying attention now. "Where'd you get it? And what’s so funny?" 

"It's just a frog." Mush replied before directing his attention to Snipe. "Hey, can you bring me that box?"

Snipe was looking at the box with disgust one usually reserved for a rotting animal. Actually, Snipe would probably prefer the dead animal. "No! I ain't touchin' that. I'll get warts!"

"From my lunch box?" David asked in surprise, wondering how his lunch box was going to start giving people warts.

Snipe was still staring at it as if it might jump up and touch him on its own. "No, from the frog. My mom used to tell me these stories- and the frogs gave people warts."

Mush dropped the frog. "I don't want no warts!" He looked around, panicked. He'd been carrying that thing all afternoon.

The frog was off again, only this time all the newsies were scattering, jumping onto bunks as if there were a mouse loose.

"It ain't going to give you warts!" Skittery shouted, rolling his eyes. His assertion did nothing to stop the pandemonium. Only Snipe noticed long enough to shout out that it would too.

David made a dive for the frog, trying to catch it. He managed on about the ninth try. By then the other guys were staring at him. He stood up trying to act calmer than he knew he looked. "You can't get warts from it," David explained. That wasn't to say he wanted to touch it, but it was too late for that now.

“You sure?” Mush called. David nodded. 

Skittery rolled his eyes. He'd _just_ said that. But when _David_ said it, the other boys listened. Mush walked over to David and opened the lunch box, allowing David to put the frog inside. "He ain't hurt is he?" Mush was concerned- now that his new friend wasn't going to give him warts. And he felt bad that he had dropped him. Mush peered inside, uncertain how to tell if the frog was hurt.

David shook his head. "Probably not. Frogs can jump eight times the length of their body. I don't think it fell that far."

"You saying that Mush ain't more than eight times the height of a frog?" Skittery asked. David cringed, it was a fair point.

"Okay... probably it fell further. But it seems okay,” David tried to reassure Mush.

"I dunno, Mush ain't _that_ tall." The boys turned to see Jack standing in the doorway, grinning. Clearly he'd seen the chaos that just ended. Jack walked in and ruffled Mush's hair, peering in the lunchbox where the frog sat, breathing heavily, but still for the moment. "Nice frog."

David gave Jack sort of a half nod. After their talk, and the whole kissing thing they’d been avoiding each other by unspoken mutual agreement, each giving the other time to sort things out. David leaned back a little further into the ladder, taking in the scene while not trying to be too noticeable a part of it himself.

Jack wasn't having it. It'd been well over a week since he had seen David. Jack walked over and leaned on the bunk next to him, their shoulders touching. He assumed a casual pose, but his insides were far from calm. "So, you got Mush a frog?"

"Yeah," David said. "Of course. That's it. I got Mush a frog. Thoughtful of me, huh?" David was staring forward, but Jack could tell he’d rolled his eyes. 

Jack snorted at the image of David catching a frog. "So where'd it come from then?"

David’s reply was short. "Mush found it all on his own. I don't know. Ask him."

Jack looked at David for a moment. "You mad at me 'bout somethin'? I didn't soak those boys- just like I promised." Jack muttered under his breath, "And I should have... They deserved it."

David sighed. "I'm not mad. Just saying that Mush knows more about the origins of the frog than I do."

Jack took the hint. He pushed himself off the bunk and called out, "Hey Mush, where'd you get the frog?" He wandered over to the group surrounding Mush and half listened as Mush recounted his adventure in the park. Jack's eyes however were on his best friend, wondering what he needed to do to fix whatever was wrong between them.

David wondered how Jack could spend the whole of Mush's story looking at him like that. It made him both uneasy and warm all at once. 

At the end of his story, Mush looked down at the frog and remembered something. "Oh! He needs water! Hey, how much water should I give him, Dave?"

"Not a lot. Don't drown him. Just a little,” David called without moving from his spot on the other side of the room. 

Mush carted the lunch pail to the washroom and the others followed. Jack looked over at David again. He jerked his head toward the door, indicating he wanted to talk.

David came over quickly enough, hands in his pockets. "Yeah?" he asked, wondering what Jack wanted.

Jack pulled him into the dark alcove by the stairs and, looking around quickly, kissed him. Maybe that would snap him out of whatever mood he was in. Or it might make it worse. But it was worth a shot. 

David stiffened for the briefest moment, then relaxed. The kiss didn't last long. David returned it with a quick one of his own, his expression both affectionate and vaguely annoyed. "See? I told you I wasn't mad at you."

"Yeah, that's what your eyes are saying, Dave." But Jack gave him a small smile- glad things were closer to normal again. Or as normal as they could be since their friendship became... well, whatever this was. "So... you, uh, have a good day? ...At school?" Jack floundered around, trying to reestablish normal.

He really wanted to kiss David again, but figured it was a bad idea- and soon the other boys would probably wonder where they went. He put his arm around David and walked them back into the other room, waiting for David's reply- to whatever it was Jack had just asked him.

"School was thrilling. Always is. I don't know how I manage to tear myself away at the end of the day." David said, though he was pretty sure Jack's arm around his neck was a big part of it.

Mush was sitting on the floor with his frog. David slipped away from Jack to join him. And honestly, that was another reason he loved being here. They could just sit on the floor and play with a frog, and nobody- except maybe Skittery- would find it strange.

Jack watched his friend walk away for a moment before following him. He sat next to David, their knees touching.

Mush looked up, "Hey Davey, how many flies and stuff you think I need to catch for him?" Mush was dripping water with his fingers into the lunch pail. David said not to drown him, so he was being careful. He watched the drops fall onto the frog. Mush wasn't sure, but it looked like the frog closed his eyes and sighed when the water first hit him. Mush smiled, glad the frog was happy.

"He can probably catch some of his own food. He won't want to eat dead things. He needs to see them move. His tongue is sticky like glue..." David gestured towards his own mouth, as if that would somehow aid in the description.

"So, I should let him out sometimes to catch food?" Skittery looked thrilled at the prospect of a frog loose in the bunkhouse. And Snipe, while he trusted David, didn't completely believe he wouldn't get warts. "Just keep him away from my bunk, k?"

"It might be better to catch the flies, and put them in there alive. Or any insect or arachnid you can get your hands on. He'll eat them fast enough." David said quickly. He pointed to the back of the frog, "Look, his kidneys are here."

“What's an arachnid?" Tumbler stumbled over the unfamiliar word.

"What are kidneys?" Boots asked at the same time.

“Spiders are arachnids. They have eight legs. Kidneys are in your body. You have them too. They clean up your insides for you."

"Why didn't you just say spider?" Skittery grumbled from the corner, irritated he didn't know what an arachnid was either.

"My insides are dirty?" Tumbler pulled up his shirt as if he could see inside his body.

"Hey, how you know all that, Dave?" Mush asked, interestedly.

"I didn't think of spider. I just said the first word I thought of," David mumbled. Something about the tone in Skittery's voice made him wish he'd said spider. David looked at Tumbler, "Your insides are fine. Your kidneys and liver clean them up, so there's nothing to worry about unless something goes wrong with those. The frog’s liver is over there, just under the skin, below its stomach."

Jack watched as his friend warmed to the subject. This was the David he knew- the one who could talk about frog kidneys as if they were the most fascinating things on the planet. And when David talked, they almost were.

"Mostly he has the same parts as a human, but his intestines, for example, are only about as long as your fingernail. He has remnants of a swim bladder, which we don’t have, even though it doesn't really need one. It swims more the way we do than the way a fish does. He's better at it, of course, but it's different."

The boys sat, rapt as David explained frog anatomy to them. David would make a good teacher, Jack realized. This was followed by the same pain as a few weeks ago- the knowledge that their future was really pretty limited. David was bound for better things. And Jack was bound for the factory soon. He couldn't be a newsie forever.

Mush repeated his question, "How'd you learn all this, Dave? You read it in a book or somethin'?"

“We dissected frogs at school," was David's absent response. He rested his hand on on his knee. And if it brushed Jack's knee, no one had to know. And it felt good to do that- it was good be near him again.

Jack looked down at David's hand. He was surprised at the gesture, but pleasantly so. He let his hand rest on his leg, the edges of their hands and fingers just touching.

"What's dissected?" Blink asked. He hadn't said much, his thoughts elsewhere, still trying to calculate how many more days it would take to pay back Race. But the word caught his attention.

"It means you cut them up with a knife to look at their insides," David said. He'd been half leaning against Jack, but straightened up at the look Mush shot him. "Not... while it was alive. It was a dead frog." Mush looked horrified. He pulled the lunchbox closer. 

Tumbler and Snipe looked excited, "Neat! Was it all bloody and stuff?" Tumbler asked eagerly. Boots looked vaguely ill at the mention of blood.

"It wasn't bloody," David assured them. “It'd been dead a long time. They put it in a lot of chemicals to preserve it. One of the boys at school dared another boy to lick it, and then that boy threw up for the next ten hours. Some people thought he was going to die. We had to stop dissecting frogs after that."

There was a certain relish in telling that story. David didn't much like that boy.

Mush spoke softly to the frog, "Don't worry, no one's gonna dissect you." He looked around, "Come on, let's see if we can find you a spider." He hugged the box to his chest and got up, checking the corners of the room. Tumbler jumped to his feet to help. The other boys quickly followed. 

“I wouldn't dissect Mush's frog," David said to Jack, since he was the only one left on the floor.

Jack rubbed his back, "I know, Dave." Jack couldn't help but smile at David’s pained expression. "Come on, let's get outta here. Leave Mush to his frog." Jack stood and offered his hand to help David up.

David took his hand and allowed Jack to pull him to his feet. But Jack had been too close. Their chests brushed before David took a step back, looking down. Jack didn’t let go of his hand though. 

David dropped Jack’s hand, hoping the other guys didn’t notice. “Alright, let’s go.” 

Jack shrugged, put his arm around David’s shoulders and led him outside.


End file.
